


Fraidy Pat

by missgeevious



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: David's braver than he thought, Halloween, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Patrick's a little bit jumpy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:13:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26981950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missgeevious/pseuds/missgeevious
Summary: Patrick has good reason to be nervous around Halloween...
Relationships: Patrick Brewer/David Rose
Comments: 46
Kudos: 122
Collections: Schitt's Creek Trick Or Treat





	Fraidy Pat

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [SCTrickOrTreat](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/SCTrickOrTreat) collection. 



> **Prompt:**  
>  It turns out Patrick scares easily. David has to deal with a clingy, scared boyfriend over halloween who is scared of every little creak or gust of wind.

Business at the Apothecary is slow on Sunday afternoon so Patrick is leaning on the counter with a stack of inventory sheets and invoices in front of him, red rubber finger thimbles firmly in place as he flips through the papers and sorts them into orderly piles. No matter what David thinks, the thimbles do make the task easier and faster. 

As if he can hear Patrick’s thoughts, David stops restocking the eye serum and comes to stand next to him. He puts a hand on Patrick’s shoulder and scritches his fingers softly against the fabric of his shirt as he leans over to look at paperwork. “How’s it going?” 

“Good.” Patrick straightens up, hooking a hand around David’s hip and tugging him close enough to kiss. “Mmm, you taste good. Are you testing a new lip balm?”

His boyfriend nods. “Honeyed Pear. I thought it might complement our general fall aesthetic. Do you like it?” 

Patrick looks at David’s mouth. “Not sure. I’d better check again.” 

David rolls his eyes with a smile and slides his arms around Patrick’s neck. 

This kiss is longer than the first and they lose themselves in it for several sweet, pear-flavored minutes. There aren’t any customers in the store and Patrick wants to push David through the curtain to the back room, where the kiss could become something more, but before he can act on the thought David pulls back. “So?”

Patrick blinks at him, confused. 

David laughs softly and drags a thumb over Patrick’s bottom lip. “I love that you still get like this.” He presses slightly on Patrick’s lip while biting down on his own and heat blooms in his eyes. Patrick’s breath catches and he tightens his hold on David’s hips, preparing to enact the back room plan he’d been considering. But then David moves his thumb and presses a last kiss to Patrick’s mouth before stepping away. “The lip balm, Patrick. Do you like it?”

“Oh.” Patrick huffs a sheepish laugh. “Yeah. Yes. I do.” 

David winks at him and goes back to the center table to finish restocking the eye serum. “Good to know.”

Patrick smiles to himself and begins adjusting the Back Room Plan to an After Work Plan in his mind. He’s thinking about all the things he’s going to do to David later, and in what order, as he picks up the stack of paperwork again. Suddenly, there’s a loud **BOOM** that rattles the glass of the windows. Patrick startles badly, flinging himself backward and throwing the papers straight up into the air. He stumbles as half his body tries to fall through the open space in the doorway behind him and the other half catches on the frame. He manages not to fall down, but it’s a near thing. “What was that?!” 

David startles also, but more in response to Patrick than to the noise. “It sounded like a car backfiring.” He walks to the window and looks out. “There’s an old car in front of the Café with smoke pouring out of it.” 

Patrick looks at the papers scattered everywhere. They’re on the floor, on the table displays; there are even pieces of paper in the baskets that sit on top of the tall shelf next to the register. He’ll need the ladder to reach those. _Oh, god. It’s started._ He thought this Halloween might be different since he’s away from home and away from his family. No one here is out to get him. As far as he knows. _Great, the paranoia is setting in too._

David turns from the window and looks at the papers everywhere. “What the fuck, Patrick?”

“Sorry.” His cheeks are hot with embarrassment. “It surprised me.”

“I can see that.” David bends down and starts gathering up the pages on the floor.

“We’ll need the stepladder to get the ones up on the shelf,” Patrick mumbles. “I’ll go get it.”

He’s got to get it together. He’s safe. He can relax. This won’t be like other Halloweens. His mind understands that, but his body is definitely still on full alert. Years— decades, actually— of conditioning are difficult to overcome. The crunch of leaves underfoot and the sight of pumpkins has inspired a sort of excited terror in him for as long as he can remember. 

He walks back out to the floor with the ladder, pops it open, and positions it in front of the tall shelves. As he steps up onto the first rung another tremendous **BOOM** echoes outside. This time, when Patrick startles there’s nothing behind him to keep him from falling and he tumbles to the floor. The back of his head hits with a dull thud as he lands. 

“Patrick!” David rushes over, drops to his knees, and puts a hand on Patrick’s chest. “Are you okay?”

“Yes.” Patrick reaches to rub the back of his head irritably. 

David looks at his own hand resting on Patrick’s chest and his eyes widen. ”Your heart is racing!” Concern pinches his eyebrows together, forming the vertical crease between them that always squeezes Patrick’s heart. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Patrick shoves himself up into a sitting position and reaches out to run a thumb gently over the deep wrinkle between David’s brows, trying to ease it away. “Yeah, David. I’m okay.” He’s not, though. Not really. His heart is still galloping.

“Your hand is shaking.”

Patrick draws his hand back from David’s face and looks at it. He squeezes it into a fist and relaxes it again. 

He stands up and reaches down to help David to his feet. Then he steps forward, wraps his arms around David’s waist, and lays his head in the crook of his neck, face turned in toward David’s. He squeezes him tightly.

“Oh.” David’s voice is surprised. He runs his hands soothingly over Patrick’s back but when Patrick doesn’t let go, or even lessen how tightly he’s holding on to him, David stills his hands and squeezes back, matching Patrick’s intensity. 

Patrick has been growing more and more tense the entire month of October. Now that it’s down to the final week he’s practically vibrating with anticipation. He knows he should let go of David; that his behavior is probably going to worry him. But David feels so big and solid, and Patrick feels calmer just being this close to him. Loved. Safe. David has a habit of slouching or folding in on himself in ways that make him seem smaller a lot of the time, but he’s a big man with broad shoulders, and sometimes… sometimes it’s nice to feel smaller, to trust someone else to take charge. He sighs and squeezes David just a little bit tighter for a moment and then loosens his grip on him and kisses his neck before stepping back. 

The crease is back between David’s eyes so Patrick pulls him forward and presses a kiss to the wrinkle this time. “I’m okay, David.”

David looks at him doubtfully. “You’re not normally so jumpy. What’s going on?”

“Come on. Let’s pick up all these papers and I’ll tell you about it.”

**~~~~~~~~**

David listens while Patrick tells him about his childhood littered with jump scares and terrifying Halloween “jokes” and David’s horror mounts with each story. Patrick’s entire family is committed to scaring the hell out of one another during Halloween every year, all of them trying to one-up each other with the best or most unexpected assault. David isn’t surprised by the competitiveness amongst the Brewer clan. Hell, if they had a family crest it would be a bunch of people on a hilltop, all trying to push each other off so they could be declared king of the mountain. He is, however, a little shocked by the lengths they are willing to go to in order to scare the shit out of one another. Even kind, loving Marcy partakes in this annual Terror Olympics.

“The year my dad made me wet my pants was probably the worst of it.”

“What?!” David practically shrieks. 

“He didn’t mean to, of course, and he felt really bad about it.”

David moves to stand closer to Patrick. “Do you want to tell me about it?”

Patrick smiles and shrugs but David sees the way the corners of his eyes tighten. No matter how much he might try to pass this off as Halloween tomfoolery, it’s a bad memory for him. David can’t help himself, he reaches out and runs the pads of his fingers over Patrick’s shoulder, and then reaches up to pluck at his collar and slide one finger under the fabric along the back of his neck. Just that little bit of contact— Patrick’s warm skin against his finger— makes him feel better. He thinks maybe it works like that for Patrick, too, because he sighs quietly and then begins to speak.

“There’s not much to the story actually. I was twelve, I think, maybe thirteen. I had hockey practice after school and I didn’t get home until about eight o’clock on practice days. At that time of year, it’s fully dark by eight, of course. My dad was hiding in bushes around the side of our house. He was dressed like, I don’t know, like some weird combination of Freddy Krueger and one of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre guys, covered in blood and unrecognizable. He leapt out of the bushes, fired up the chainsaw he was holding and came running at me like a madman, yelling at the top of his lungs.”

David jerks backwards in shock. He knows his arms are flailing but he can’t be bothered to try to contain them. “Your father chased you?! With an actual chainsaw?! What the fuck, Patrick!”

Patrick chuckles, but the humor doesn’t reach his eyes. “There wasn’t a chain on the saw. It was harmless. Just a lot of noise.”

David’s heart is thundering in his chest. He feels like someone is brandishing a chainsaw at him. 

“It only took me a second to realize it was him, but for that second I was the most frightened I’ve ever been in my life and I, well… yeah.”

David is torn between wanting to comfort him and wanting to stomp to the car, drive to Patrick’s childhood home, and give Clint Brewer a piece of his mind.

“Well, I don’t think that was funny at all,” he finally says. 

“Neither did I at the time, but that’s what Halloween is like in the Brewer family. They play for keeps.”

David pulls Patrick into another hug. “Patrick, honey, your family might be a little bit crazy.”

Patrick huffs a laugh into the side of his neck. 

“And I know a crazy family when I see one.”

Patrick laughs again and David’s not sure, but he thinks maybe there is a wet quality to the laugh that time, so he squeezes Patrick a little tighter just in case.

The door to the Apothecary opens suddenly and David feels a small jerk of surprise reverberate through Patrick’s body. He steps away from him and spins to face the door, putting himself between Patrick and whoever just walked in. 

The woman standing by the door appears harmless, but David doesn’t recognize her and he’s feeling a little paranoid after listening to Patrick’s stories about his family. “May we help you?” He’s polite, but he watches her carefully. 

She reaches a hand into her bag and David braces himself but she only pulls out a slip of paper. “A friend of mine told me that I needed to try your—” she glances at the slip of paper to confirm she says it correctly— “rosemary mint bath salts and your orange cardamom body milk.” 

David relaxes. “Of course. Those are two of our best sellers. The bath salts are just there.” He gestures to the far side of the large center table. “And I’ll be over in a moment to help you.” 

The woman smiles and nods as she walks to the area he indicated. 

David turns to face Patrick and catches a strange look passing over his face. It’s not a bad expression, he doesn’t think, but it’s not one he’s familiar with either. He cups a hand along one side of Patrick’s neck and looks at him intently. “Are you okay?”

Patrick’s eyes are talking for him. They’re wide and soft and so, so fond as he gazes at David. “Yeah, David. I’m good.” Then he kisses him on the cheek in an entirely appropriate for a professional workplace kind of way. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

He just smiles and shakes his head. “Go help our customer, David. I’m okay.”

**~~~~~~~~**

Patrick goes to stand behind the counter and begin the task of sorting the paperwork all over again from the beginning. He can’t help glancing up at David now and then, and each time he does warmth spreads in his chest. When the customer entered and startled them, David had automatically gone into protective mode, making himself seem bigger somehow, and putting himself between Patrick and whatever danger might have been coming through the door. David doesn’t even seem to realize he’d done it. He had reacted out of instinct— an instinct to protect Patrick. And that was making Patrick feel a lot of things. There was affection, of course, but there was also a thrill of excitement and a tightening in his jeans that he adjusted as inconspicuously as he could. 

After the customer makes her purchases, which include several things she hadn’t come in for but which David convinced her she needed, David immediately comes back to Patrick’s side and begins rubbing his hand back and forth over Patrick’s shoulders. He refrains from asking Patrick if he’s okay again, correctly guessing that it might irritate Patrick, but he watches his face carefully. “Do you think your family would go to the trouble to come all the way here just to pull off one of those insane Halloween pranks?”

Patrick starts to say, “No, of course not,” but then stops with his mouth partly open and thinks for a moment. “Maybe?” Then he shakes his head. “No. No, I don’t think so. They have enough to do scaring the hell out of each other, and out of all the neighborhood kids. They don’t have time to carry out some elaborate plot hundreds of kilometers away.”

“Mmm.” David nods several times, probably thinking— correctly again— that Brewers will go a long way to be the best at something. 

“You know, I think you should stay with me tonight.”

David raises one eyebrow. “And why is that?”

Patrick takes him by the hips and pulls him forward until they are pressed together from thigh to chest and then he noses the underside of David’s jaw, inhaling his scent. “Having you nearby makes me feel better. Makes me feel good.”

David raises the other eyebrow to match the first and bites down on a smile before saying, “It must, because I feel something too.” He rocks against Patrick’s hips once in acknowledgment of the growing bulge there. 

Patrick's eyes flutter and he groans a little. “How long until close?”

“Not long. Why don’t we get started on our closing tasks now so we can get to your place faster?”

“I am one hundred percent behind you on that.”

David smirks at him. “Exactly where I want you.”

“Fuck.” Patrick is suddenly impatient. “Hurry up, David. You dust and sweep. I’ll count the till. You know what, never mind. You count the till and I’ll dust and sweep. I don’t think I’ll do a good job counting right now.”

“I can’t count the till yet. We’re still open for thirty minutes, Patrick. Consistent business hours are important to build customer loyalty.”

Patrick grabs David and kisses him, pouring every bit of the arousal he’s feeling into it. It’s not a business appropriate, front-of-the-store kiss. It’s very much a back room kiss, and Patrick doesn’t care who might see. 

When he finally pulls back David’s eyes are unfocused and he’s breathing fast. “You should definitely count the till. I’ll uh…” he bites his bottom lip and stares at Patrick’s mouth. “Uh….” 

“Dust and sweep up?” It’s Patrick’s turn to smirk. 

“Yup. That’s it. That’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

“Good boy.” 

“Fuck me,” David says with conviction. 

**~~~~~~~~**

David should probably feel at least a little embarrassed by the noises he made a minute ago, but he’s pretty sure the noises Patrick made drowned him out, so he’s just going to enjoy feeling boneless and ride out the endorphins still thrumming through his body. Jesus, that had been good. Patrick is collapsed on top of him, still trying to catch his breath. He doesn’t seem inclined to move either, which is just fine. He loves Patrick’s warm weight on his back; loves feeling surrounded by him, filled and stretched by him. When he finally does begin to pull away and roll off him, David whines a little. Maybe a lot. No matter how long they lay like this, it’s always too soon when it’s over. 

Patrick kisses the cheek that isn’t pressed into the pillow and then slides down his body and presses another kiss to his lower back before giving his ass a light swat. “Come on. The sooner we clean up the sooner we can crawl under the covers.” He tugs on David until he begrudgingly gets up and allows himself to be herded to the bathroom.

Once they’ve finished and are tucking themselves into bed for the night, David automatically turns to curl around Patrick and lay his head on his chest, which is the position they usually default to when they’re settling in for the night, but Patrick nudges him away and pushes him over so he can curl around David instead. 

“Oh.” David wraps an arm around his shoulders and pulls him in tighter.

Patrick hooks one leg over David’s, burrows into his chest, and hums happily. 

David smiles, kisses the top of his head, and hums in return. “So, not that I’m complaining… at all… but I’m curious to know what’s gotten into you this evening.” 

Patrick tilts his head back so he can see David and smiles at him. His cheeks are a bit pink, as if he’s embarrassed, but his eyes are sparkling with something like mischief and the combination is adorable so David is forced to kiss him. “You’re very cute.”

“So are you.” Patrick kisses him back. “You’re also very sexy when you go into protective mode.” 

“Protective mode? What are you talking about?”

“Back at the store.” Patrick’s blush deepens a little as he says it and David realizes he’s not embarrassed, he’s turned on. Again. Already.

David thinks back over the day, trying to figure out what Patrick is talking about. 

“After I told you how terrifying Halloween has always been for me, when that woman with the list came in? While we were hugging?”

He still doesn’t know what Patrick is talking about. “Okay?”

“David, you practically shoved me behind you and turned to put yourself between me and whatever danger might be coming through the door at that moment.”

“I did?”

Patrick nods and his smile is playful but he’s pressed tightly to David’s side and David can feel him starting to get hard again. He smirks and wiggles a little. “You really liked that, huh?”

“Yes. Yes, I did.” 

“I can tell.”

Patrick laughs and lays his head on David’s chest again. 

David smiles to himself. He sort of likes the idea of himself cast in the role of the big, strong protector. It makes him feel confident in a way that’s different from his usual brand of confidence. He tightens his arms around Patrick and drops his voice lower. “Don’t worry, honey, I’ll keep you safe.”

He expects Patrick to laugh or tease him, but that’s not what happens. Instead, Patrick shivers a little and burrows closer. “Thank you, David.” 

Something new stretches open in David’s heart. He understands for the first time that he loves Patrick enough to put his own body between Patrick and whatever might hurt him. If it came down to it, he would sacrifice himself to keep his beautiful Patrick whole and safe. He’s only ever felt that way about one person before. It’s been a long time since he had to grab an emergency go bag and race for the airport while simultaneously trying to finish getting dressed and book a flight on his phone, but there’s still a packed bag in the back of his closet… just in case Alexis calls. 

**~~~~~~~~**

Patrick swipes away the alarm alert on his phone and peeks at David to make sure the vibration didn’t wake him. His face is still slack with sleep, his full lips slightly parted. It takes a significant amount of willpower for Patrick to carefully detangle himself and slide away from him. He would much rather stay pressed against David and wake him with kisses that slowly become something more. But it’s Patrick’s day to open the store alone and David’s one day to sleep as long as he likes, so Patrick contents himself with staring at his still face for a minute longer before getting up and starting his day. 

It’s a busy morning, which is good for their bottom line, but it also means Patrick isn’t able to spend the first chunk of his day updating his spreadsheets. That makes him feel itchy so as soon as the store empties he heads to the back to get to work on them. He’s not sure how long he’s been working when he hears the creak of a floorboard. He stops typing immediately and cocks his head toward the front of the store to listen. He hadn’t heard the bell over the door ring.

He’s just about to decide it was his imagination when he hears it again, a slow, quiet _creeeaak._ He calls out to the front of the store. “Hello?” No answer. He clears his throat and tries again a little louder as he stands up and starts walking. “Hello?” Still nothing.

He glances around quickly to see if he can find anything to use as a weapon. There aren’t any good candidates, but he could probably smash a bottle of body milk over someone’s head in a pinch so he grabs one. 

As he’s reaching to part the curtains that hang across the doorway someone comes barreling through them and plows into him. Patrick makes a sound somewhere between a shout and a growl and comes very close to breaking the bottle of body milk over David’s head before he realizes it’s him. 

David gasps in surprise and smacks a palm to his chest as he stumbles backward. “What the fuck?!”

Patrick lowers the bottle, grateful for his quick reaction to recognizing David, and blows out a big breath. “Jesus, David. You scared the hell out of me.” His heart is racing.

“Me?!” David windmills an arm in Patrick’s direction. “You! You almost hit me!” He grabs the bottle out of Patrick’s hand. “With a bottle of body milk!” His mouth drops open as if the fact that it was body milk somehow makes the whole thing offensive.

“Why didn’t you answer me when I called out?” Patrick’s irritated and it comes out in his tone of voice.

David waves the earbuds he’s holding in Patrick’s face. He matches Patrick’s irritation and adds some righteous indignation. “I didn’t hear you!” 

Patrick takes a big breath and twitches his shoulders, trying to overcome the adrenaline still zipping through him. “Sorry.” He drops his chin a little, embarrassed.

David sets the body milk and earbuds on the shelf nearest him, cups his hands over Patrick’s shoulders, and rubs them with his thumbs.

Patrick relaxes a bit under David’s hands. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Still feeling anxious?”

Patrick looks David in the eye again and opens his mouth to deny it because he feels stupid, but David’s looking at him with love and a bit of that confident, protective thing again so Patrick swallows the denial and wraps his arms around David’s waist instead. “Maybe a little.” He tucks his head into David’s shoulder to hide his smile. 

“Mm-hmm,” Patrick can sense David biting back his own smile as he nods. The circles he’s rubbing into Patrick’s shoulders get a little bigger.

“I don’t like unexpected things.”

“I know you don’t, honey.”   
  
Patrick kisses his spot on David’s neck. “I’m glad you’re here.”

David winds his arms all the way around Patrick’s shoulders and squeezes him tighter. When he speaks again Patrick hears the humor vibrating in his voice. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

Patrick knows David is trying to be funny, that this has become a little joke between them after yesterday, and, yes, it’s cute, and still a little embarrassing, but it’s also still hot. He likes it very much. He’s not sure what to say to convey all that to David so he settles for a gruff-sounding, “Good,” and then gives him a smacking kiss on the cheek. “Let’s get back to work.”

**~~~~~~~~**

David is alone in the front part of the store refolding the sweaters when the bell above the door tinkles, announcing a customer. _Thank god._ It’s been a very slow afternoon. David shifts into his customer service persona out of habit and says, “Welcome to Rose Apothecary! Is there something I can help you with?” before looking up to see who has entered, at which point he gasps quietly. 

Standing just inside the doors is a man wearing a black ski mask and a zip-up hoodie. The man’s eyes are wide and nervous. “Yeah, I’d like you to open your cash register and give me your money!”

It takes David a moment to remember how to speak. His heart is beating so fast it feels like a vibration in his chest. “Okay, small problem. Um, our money isn’t for sale.” He glances nervously at the curtain behind the counter, hoping Patrick hears his distress.

“I’m robbing you!”

“Thought so. Yeah, um…” David is trying to buy time to think. He glances at the curtain again. Should he shout for Patrick?

“What are you looking at?” The man is twitchy, his eyes getting even wider behind the mask. “Who else is here? Tell him to come out.”

Tell _him_ to come out. How does this guy know someone else is here, or that he’s a him? The man has one hand jammed in the open front of the hoodie, as if he’s hiding a weapon there. Two thoughts hit David simultaneously. One, who does that? The whole point of a weapon is to show it to scare the other person into cooperating. The only thing this guy is hiding is his empty hand, David’s sure of it. Two, Patrick’s family really are a bunch of lunatics. They’ve sent this guy to give Patrick his annual Halloween fright. Well, not today. Not on David Rose’s watch. 

David pulls himself up to his full height and strides purposefully toward the man, who jerks backward a step. “Hey! What are you doing? Stop!” But David doesn’t stop. He speeds up. Before the man can react, David is on him. He shoves him hard and the man stumbles and falls. David hears something clatter to the floor and hopes nothing expensive just got broken. 

The “robber” has landed face down so David straddles him, grabs his arms and yanks them together behind his back. “Ha!” David crows. “Got ya!” Then he drops his voice to a hiss. “You don’t scare me. And you’re not going to scare Patrick, not while I’m around. So you can drop the act. You people are all insane!”

“David.” Patrick’s voice is strangled and strange. 

“Don’t worry, Patrick. I’ve…”

“David!” His voice is louder and sharper this time, and when David looks up Patrick is running toward him with terror on his face. 

“It’s okay, Patrick. I’ve got him. I—” Patrick kicks something across the room and David breaks off as he watches the object spin away in what feels like slow motion.

“Patrick.” His throat is very dry and he can barely hear his own voice. “Is that… was that…” suddenly he’s shouting, _“Is that a gun?!”_

David jerks his gaze back to the man he’s straddling and his instinct is to scoot away from him as fast as he can. His grip on the robber— actual robber!— loosens and the man renews his struggle to get free. David squeaks and tightens his grip again. _Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Ohhh, what the actual fuck!_ His heart is rabbiting in his chest. He might pass out.

“David! David. My god. You— David—” Patrick is starting to hyperventilate. His eyes are huge and darting around, and his chest is heaving.

Shit. _Patrick_ might pass out. Seeing Patrick in so much distress does something to David. His panic at seeing the gun disappears. Everything falls away and all he can focus on is Patrick, on the look of horror on his face. He makes his voice as calm as he can. “Patrick.” When Patrick doesn’t look at him immediately he says it again, louder and more firmly, “Patrick.”

Patrick’s eyes snap to him.

“Call the police, Patrick. It’s okay. I’ve got him.”

Patrick nods jerkily and pulls out his phone. 

**~~~~~~~~**

It takes a long time for the police to do their job and the two of them sit together on the sofa back in the office for all of it. When the officers try to separate them for the interviews Patrick refuses to be parted from David. He knows his grip on David’s hand is too tight but he’s having trouble loosening it. Every few minutes David trembles against him and Patrick lets go of his hand briefly to put an arm around him and squeeze him tight. Patrick’s head still feels full of a loud static that could easily tip over into panic again each time he remembers what he saw when he walked out of the back room. And the officers’ questions force him to recall it again and again. By the time it’s over he feels like he might scream.

“Patrick,” David murmurs quietly in his ear. “I need you to ease up on my hand a little.”

He immediately loosens his grip and raises David’s hand to kiss it quickly in apology.

“Are we finished yet?” he asks the officer currently taking them through what happened for the third time.

She flips her notebook closed and nods. _Thank god._ The officers clear out quickly after that. David and Patrick don’t get up from the sofa to see them out.

Once they are gone Patrick heaves a big breath in, huffs it out, and turns to wrap both arms around David. His intent is to take care of David, make sure he’s okay, hold him through whatever emotional response he needs to have, but that’s not what happens. The moment Patrick tucks his face into David’s neck he bursts into tears. 

“Hey.” David’s voice is gentle. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s over. I’m, uh—” he breaks off for a moment and Patrick can feel him swallow a couple of times. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you, Patrick.” 

David’s voice is unsure, as if he’s still trying this protective thing on for size, and it’s that hint of vulnerable uncertainty that halts Patrick’s tears and keeps him from turning this into their normal teasing banter. “Thank you, David.” He kisses David’s neck and then pulls back far enough to be able to look at his face and cup his cheek. “You do make me feel safe. Always.” He gives him a slow, chaste kiss and then continues, “But right now I’m upset about how close I came to losing you.”

David’s lips tremble and his eyes fill. He opens his mouth to respond but all that comes out is a wet hiccup and he starts shaking so hard Patrick grabs him up again in a tight hug. “He had a gun, Patrick!”

“I know.” Patrick rocks them back and forth and squeezes tighter. “I know. It’s okay. We’re okay. We’re both safe.”

“Can we…?” David pushes Patrick backward until it’s clear he wants them to lie down on the sofa and hold each other. 

Patrick doesn’t answer. He just lays back and arranges David until he’s tucked into his side with their legs tangled and their arms around each other. He is calmer immediately and he thinks David is too. He scratches his fingers through the hair at the nape of David’s neck and whispers, “I’ll always do everything I can to keep you safe, David.”

“I know,” David whispers into his chest. 

They lay like that for a long time before the bell over the front door tinkles. Dammit. He’d assumed it was locked. Before he can detangle himself from David, Stevie comes rushing through the curtain. 

Her face is pale and worried but when she sees them, relief washes over her features and then coalesces quickly into a smirk. “Hello, boys. Good to know I can always count on the two of you to behave inappropriately in the workplace.”

David slips out of Patrick’s arms and sits up. “Hugging is not inappropriate, Stevie. We cannot be blamed for the fact that your mind rolls around in the gutter on a daily basis.”

Stevie cocks an eyebrow at him and crosses her arms. “People in glass houses…” 

David glares at her and tosses both hands in the air. “We’ve had a very traumatic experience today, Stevie! What do you want?”

“I heard there were cops here earlier and I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

David blinks rapidly for a moment and then grins at her. “Is that a soft yet affirmative indication that you care about me?”

“Shut up.” Stevie looks anywhere but at David.

“She was worried about us, Patrick.”

“I see that.” 

“I said shut up,” Stevie growls. 

Patrick stands up and pats Stevie on the shoulder. “Come on, let’s open a bottle of wine and I’ll tell you all about how David saved me.”

Stevie looks back and forth between them dubiously. “David. David saved you.”

Patrick nods. “One hundred percent.” 

David preens and smooths the sleeves of his sweater before smiling smugly at Stevie.

She rolls her eyes at him and then turns to follow Patrick. “I am positive there is more to this story, but before we get into it I should probably tell you something, Patrick. Your father called me at the motel earlier today and asked me help him play a practical joke on you that sounded like something out of one of those Saw movies. Did you know your family is insane?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my beta @vivianblakesunrisebay and to @Deenerann and @SmallUmbrella for the support. xo


End file.
